The Last Fortress: Toride

THE LAST FORTRESS TORIDE
(Each part has ten chapters)

Warning: Before reading this book, there may be content disturbing to some readers. If you cannot take violence and drama, stop reading now. If you don't care, don't say that I didn't warn you! Read at your own risk!
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Four hundred years back, a beautiful land is deserted in Beijing. Many people thrived in its secular environment. Several of its tourists and scientists comment of its beautiful color, beauty and wealth.

Trade returned throughout the fortress. Their products included food, clothes, bamboo, spices, and sugar. Apparently, the nation was quite improved, making houses and other furniture out of gold, copper, bronze, and bamboo. No other nation was as advanced. They learned Mandarin Chinese, and their silks were the finest of them all.

Despite these happy conditions, human sacrifice was common. This unknown land mimicked the Aztecs, ripping out the hearts and sometimes eating the dead. It scared many who saw the practice. it promised to scare away minors. Robbers, liars, and cheaters of wives were put to death. Sexual intercourse and homosexuality roamed around as well.

By 1543, however, the fortress was abandoned, and large forest areas covered the fortress from top to bottom. After that time, no news of the Last Fortress was heard. No architects know or heard of its magnificent beauty that was killed. No archaeologists know of its beauty, or of the people who survived there.

Since its début in history, civilizations such as Teotihuacan, the Mayas, Toltec, and the Aztecs had vast information pasted in the history books worldwide. Secular information has since sprouted from those four nations. Why not the fortress called Toride? Scientists say that it hasn't existed. If it did, it was probably sacked and burned down by the samurai.

The last fortress was huge and vast with information archaeologists could have recorded. Like some might have said, time skips. It only lasted from 1509-1543. It thrived with so much, some history teachers worldwide talk about it with little or no information about their sacrifice rituals.

This is the story of several young adults seeking its golden history. They are brave, scouting in clear to stormy days and nights. They'll go all over the world to seek this beautiful piece of treasure archaeologists failed to piece together.

==PROLOGUE==

January 15, 2011

London, England

It was a frigid, snowy, Monday morning. Everyone wandered around the London University. Even though it might have something in the air, many didn't feel like attending class (like they were supposed to each business day). It wasn't a surprise the day was full of snoring, coughing, and sniffles. Many students called in absent because of the bad conditions.

Many professors wished to cancel all classes. By the headmaster, today was their first snow day. Some college students frolicked in the snow, throwing snow balls at each other and making snow angels. Others lounged in the building or drove back home. There was an ongoing weather advisory to watch for ice. The freezing rain made it so fogged, it was dreaded that accidents may occur.

One student named Vash Kingston was hanging at the library and researched for long hours. He was up since yesterday morning doing his forgotten research on "Lost Worlds". His bluish-black hair and dark blue eyes gleamed at the computer's screen. He was writing all that he could copy and what he could summarize from nearly twenty encyclopedias, a thousand old notes, and about 200 websites (including Wikipedia & citations). Vash also researched the Meso-American civilizations, nearly tiring himself of sleep deprivation. By 11:30, he got all he could (maybe except one civilization) and headed out the library doors to wash up, eat, and sleep.

"God... all this research's messin' with me head! GAWD!" Vash laid his head down on his desk. He could still see images of the blood-red moon and green leaves sprouting at his hands. Angrily, he got out an envelope opener and slashed at his left arm. The blood splattered on his desk and on his floor. When he realized what happened, he was too worn to take himself to the nurse.

His thinking was interrupted by a sudden presence in the room. "Kingston, how many times have I told you not to be slashing yourself!?" It was Waverly Toltec, his long-time roommate. She immediately threw her spell book directly at Vash's head. Her amber eyes showed great dismay for the man. She had back-length orange-colored hair tied in a braid with two side fringes. She had 36-C breasts. She measured about 5' 3", and had a pale but healthy complexion.

"Jesus! What the hell are you doing here?!" Vash angrily threw the book back with his free arm. His left arm was bandaged.

She waved a naughty finger. "No, no no! You can't go in the middle of somewhere and use violence. I thought you HATED violence."

A visible vein popped on his head, "I... do..."

"Don't worry, hot-head! I'll get something to save all this work!" Waverly got out a green and black tote bag and put all of Vash's books in the bag. "There! Now it doesn't look like a pig's sty!"

<<"Why the hell is she touching my shit?!">> Vash's lopsided smile did nothing to erase the anger etched on his face. After what seemed like an eternity, Waverly was already gone. Vash heaved a heavy sigh. Suddenly, Waverly rushed back into his room.

"Wow! What's this?" Waverly was shocked at the old print. "My goodness! You've stayed all night working on THIS?!"

Vash nodded and let out a long yawn. "Yes... I have, now stop sniffing my shit..."

Waverly stared at Vash's three-subject notebook. She saw "toride" written in all caps on the bottom right of his notebook. "No, no, Vash... What's this 'Toride' at the bottom of your notebook?"

"Oh, that... er... I'll tell you later... Why don't you go to bed?"

Waverly disliked Vash's sudden tone of voice. He sure didn't sound in the mood for chess or Japanese mah-jong. She quickly retorted, "I'm not tired!"

He jutted an index finger towards the top bunk bed, "Go to bed. That's final."

"Ugh! I hate your attitude!" She screeched, quickly flipping herself in the covers.

"Can you quiet down there, Screech!?" A neighbor yelled across the halls.

Vash just screamed, "SHUT UP!" Everyone was quiet. Vash growled under his covers.

"Jeez! What's your problem?!" Waverly hissed at him.

"I dunno... maybe your yapping and tantrums?"

"Ooh! I want to kill you now!" Waverly half-joked.

"Stop being a bitch. It's almost midnight. It hasn't stopped snowing since eight!"

"Ah... sorry, Vash!" She got up to see Vash's face. "You have to tell me about your secrets!"

"Don't worry about it. Just get some rest." And with that, Vash fell into a deep slumber.

"Such a man..." Waverly mumbled before staring at the cold snow that danced in the wind. She finally went to sleep at three. Ironically, the weather sirens blared through the night.

By five in the morning, the crescent moon illuminated through the windows. It happened to be partly clouded, not fully clear. Clouds were spreading out to make room for the moon's glare. The moon was brightly lit with beauty. It almost rivaled the sun's harmful rays.

By six, Waverly got up, nearly blinded by the moon. She checked on her phone. She tapped the icon for "flurries: 23 degrees F". After ten seconds, it changed to "clear: 12 degrees F". Waverly immediately jumped, for she HATED to see the moon as dark as her suede shoes. Luckily, she just got her phone two days ago. She knew the moon was made of ROCK, but STILL!
She silently climbed out of her bed to wash and brush her teeth. She sang to an old song called "Clear As Can Be" by Memory Echo. She got in the shower and washed her hair, still singing to the song on the radio. By the time she was finished, the song stopped.

"Ah! And I was JUST getting started! Ha ha!" Waverly pranced around the bathroom when an ominous knock sounded on the door.

"You there. Get out!" A low-pitched voice crept behind the door.
==CHAPTER I==

Waverly was scared for her privacy. "Mister, what do you want? I'm naked!" She screamed out.

"A man I am not. Just please make room for me..." The voice sounded nowhere to normal.

"What do you mean?" She screeched yet again.

Out came a young woman named Ginger. She had medium brown hair to her lower shoulders and bright, blue eyes. She was about 5' 11", and seemed to have a nice body for her age. She was in her bathrobe.

"So you're in the bath this morning? I need to take a bath, too."

"But why? I JUST finished washing my hair, Ginger. Please come back!"

"All right... do what you want..." With that, she left Waverly to herself.

Ginger walked to Waverly and Vash's room and knocked violently to wake the solid sleeper Vash from his deep slumber. When he didn't answer, she tried the handle. She grinned an evil grin as she pushed into the room and saw his sleeping figure still on his bed, snoring away.

Ginger crept over to him and jumped on top. She was locked on top of him as soon as he woke. He clamped his arms around her waist. She tried sliding out of his grip, but she was tickling herself on his fingers as she slid up. She managed to get herself sitting on his stomach and she hopped on his stomach.

"Let go of me Vash! I'm not trying to kill you, just wake you up!"

"Oh, thought you were Waverly. Why are you on top of me in your bath robe?"

"Waking you up. Waverly kicked me out of the washing room."

He shook his head and pushed her off. She caught herself before crashing to the floor.

"Don't be so rough all the time! You'll never get a girlfriend with how you treat Waverly and me."

She pointed at him accusingly, "I'm sure you can honestly say you are not gay! You are never happy after all."

He crawled out of the bed and went back to his desk, piling up his notes and placing his notebook with "Toride" written on the bottom right corner. He left Ginger in the room and walked through the halls.

He walked to the library where he continued to jot down information flowing through his brain about Toride. He was excited to have found something he wanted to pursue. He wouldn't let anyone else know he was excited, but he might want others on the journey.

The eyes of an old adventurer watched as Vash sat down. The adventurer knew that some day in the future, they would meet in drastic circumstance. He could feel it on his tongue as he said the age old name, "Toride".
==CHAPTER II==

Vash let out a long sigh. He knew he had to tell Waverly somehow, and maybe somewhere isolated. He didn't feel any more comfortable than he did while in his room.

The snow resulted in little or no accumulation, so classes were in session. Vash immediately gathered all his things in that black and green "Ecology Plus!" handbag and threw on his Black-and white blouse (a part of a King of Fighters cosplay--his favorite shirt). He also threw on some vivid black pants to go with the outfit.
He immediately went to the wide hall to be greeted by a monotonous "Hey, Vash!" Vash looked at Mr. Faustus Roland with a disgusted scowl and took his seat in the far right of the class. Even after that, Mr. Roland was still looking with his blue, wide eyes.

He was known for giving these scary, long-winded speeches of his acts and his adventures "In The Closet". He thought the History of Lost Worlds 101 was going to be great---as did a bunch of other people. When they met this "specially engineered" educator, the class turned from better to worse in a matter of seconds. After Mr. Roman Benton left for Boston, Massachusetts, a psycho HAD to take his place. He wrote on the board "Bring me brains!" and "Lost Worlds 101-REPORTS DUE TODAY!"

A fellow student named Brandon Kirkland blurted, "Oh, the wallowing pits of Hell!"

"They'll be more Heaven!" Mr. Roland looked up in the air, his crooked teeth like that of a shark.

"Vash! Long time, no see---Whoa! You must have been working ALL night! Let me see... 'Toride'? What is that place? Maybe we should go together~!"

"Yes. It's a place, but unfortunately, I don't know where it is."

"Where's Waverly?"

"I... don't think she has---!" Without warning, Waverly came with an "Aztec" poster. It seemed like she'd get a 100% on it. Sure, she dreaded coming to this class. To get her required college credits, she needed to pass this course.

"Hey, Vash!" Waverly looked at the blue-headed loner with the jazzy red head. They looked at her with amazement. "What is it?"

"Maybe it's your clothes. You look nice with that blue sweater." Brandon complimented on how flippy her hair looked.

"Thank you!" Waverly commented as she walked to her spot, just behind Vash. After ten minutes and fifty students, the tardy bell sounded.

"Okay class! Have a seat!" Mr. Roland looked at the students calmly. "Now, let's read a bit of 'In the Closet' before we get started."

"Guh... not this again..." Vash wished to melt away.

"'My life was a-torture. It was desperate, and boring. When I raped my wife, I died. When I fucked a little boy in the park last night, I was saved. I dismembered and ate my tabby cat on a frying pan. The testicles were the best. Mmm, Mmm, GOOD!'" Waverly didn't want to hear his lewd speech. She just turned her MP3 up high.

<"Feel the burn, Vash?"> Brandon whispered in Vash's ear. He nodded and put his head down. He immediately felt a chill down his spine.

"'I CAN SEE IT ALL! I HAD A-RABIES! I AM ALLLIVVVEEEEE! My wife was a dish washer, and my son, a rake. I enjoyed the taste of her beautiful tongue. I loved to bite her up.'" When it got to Mr. Roland's climax, he amplified the microphone to the podium to as high as it could go. The students groaned, screamed and moaned as they awaited the climax (or so he thought). "'Then! I went into my daughter's bed and made her go 'Oh! Oh!'. I put her in a neck hold, and rocked her ass off her bed. The soda was too bland, so I pissed in it.'"

"YOU SICK PERVERT! YOU DESERVE TO DIE!" A girl interrupted his story.

"That's it! I'm done. Go and turn in your projects. After that, you must leave, demons! LEAVE NOW!" Mr. Roland screamed towards his students. Everyone started coming up one at a time to turn in their projects and reports. As soon as the bell rang, they left like buzzing bees in a hurry.

It seemed that every class you'd go would contain some maniac. "That story was horrible and nonsense!" Brandon followed Vash, "I miss Mr. Benton! He'd call that CRAP!"

"Agreed, and I don't think a teacher should even allow nature of that kind in there."

"You betcha. I almost threw up at the cat part." Suddenly, Brandon heard a scream, incoherent blabbing, and swearing. <"Sounds like Mr. Benton's back... so soon, too...">

"You've read that disgusting crap, among other students! This is porn, not an assignment!"

"I love it. I kill you." Mr. Roland replied.

"Hey, what are you doing with that knife? Don't you---!" Mr. Vixen Benton was flushed, his ice blue eyes showing fear. "Kids! We'll watch this inflammatory sheet burn tomorrow~! Bring your textbooks! We'll start on Chapter Seven! Make sure you turn in your projects!" With that, he immediately ran from the classroom.

"Oh, thank you!" Brandon felt his heart go back to normal hearing the rushed, cool voice. "I love Mr. Benton. He was a fun teacher, huh?"

"Still is..." Waverly smiled back at Brandon, still rubbing his red, curly hair.

"Well! I'll leave you guys alone!" Brandon went towards his dorm, and closed the doors behind him.

"Waverly..." Vash trembled in a deep, gruff whisper.

"En?" Waverly looked up at Vash.

"May we go somewhere? Tonight? Right now?"

"Well... okay..." Waverly was violently taken by the hand to the library. It was now getting cloudy and snowy again as They went from the classroom to the library. Vash found a scented candle, and lit that up in the darkness.

In their secluded section of the library, Vash made sure that no one was in there while they settled.

"Don't go getting all mushy on me with that scented candle Vash..."

"I don't see you like that...just look at this a moment, please."

Vash placed down his polished copy of notes on Toride. The notebook was almost glistening with the perfections he made on the studies.

"There were a lot of awry details on the place, so I made it my personal project to make sense of it all. I think this place, The Last Fortress, is still standing. It's just hidden."

Waverly looked through the notes, stunned.

The old adventurer that had been watching Vash finish up the polishing watched from the top of a book case, out of sight to the two of them below him.

"You only have clues here. Why would you make me look at clues?"

"Clues point somewhere right? Work with me. We could find Toride. Do you think it would be worth it to go off of the clues and see what we find?"

She stood up from her seat with Vash and pointed at him accusingly. Vash felt very taken aback with deja-vu from that same morning with Ginger.

"College comes first. I don't really want to go anywhere with you, but this place seems very fun. Maybe..."

Vash liked maybe. He reluctantly hugged her, immediately regretting it when Waverly punched him in the gut and shouted at him forgetting they were in the library, "I said no mushy stuff, retard!"

She was hushed and the old adventurer left them to do their college stuff. He would take the first steps to Toride. Hopefully they would catch up to him and prove to him that young adventurers held promise.

Vash groaned in pain from the hit, but ignored Waverly's words. He felt something about her though. He wouldn't admit it, but the pain was like a cauterizing over old wounds.

Vash smiled when Waverly stormed off in a huff back to their room.

"You really should have taken her warning," Ginger cheeped in. "Stu-pid."

Vash shook his head just before Ginger smacked him upside the back of his head. He glared as she left him alone with his notes on Toride.

"She better not have seen any of that. Aside Waverly hitting me of course..."

He grabbed up all of his things and went back to his dorm room, dreading how Waverly would react to his quick recovery. He was strong, but he would never hit a girl back.

==CHAPTER III==

It was a clear night once again, and Waverly powered up her computer. She then looked up "Toride". There came a MAME download for it. "So it's like a Mah-jong game."

It took her several hours before she found a document that said "Toki-Doki". She immediately opened it and found "Toride". She was amazed at how accurate Vash was. The place looked downright beautiful. That "maybe" she once said before slowly turned to a definite "YES!" Waverly looked through all the documents and photos. They were pouring with waves of vibrant, rich colors. She was overjoyed, and saved the URL as a bookmark.

"I bet Vash looked at this, too. I want to go someday. They don't tell you where it is, though. I'm up for a long journey any day." With that, she took a shower, slipped on her gown, and went to bed peacefully.

By the next day, Waverly let out a long yawn. "Ah, man..." She checked her clock. "8:53 AM" was lit on her clock. "AAH!" She ran in her gown with her books to class. As soon as she got in Lost Worlds 101, she was so tired out, she instantly fell asleep with her head down.

"Look who's sleeping now..." Vash looked at the sleeping Waverly.

Waverly got up, rubbing at her eyes. "Wha... What is it...?"

"Whatever, I've no business with you." Vash went to his spot. Waverly immediately got up and went to the washroom. She took a shower, brushed her teeth, and immediately got on a green "Witchy Doing" shirt with a pleated black skirt. Her hair was tied in colored rubber bands (they were like braids). She also wore some bat-patterned stockings with black boots. When she got her books, she was already three minutes tardy.

"Miss Wisteria Elena Toltec, it would be an honor if you had ears to hear the tardy bell. Please take a seat." Mr. Benton was in the middle of a presentation about Pluto.

"Yes, sir..." She slumped back down in her seat.

"Okay, now who wants to see 'In the Closet' get burned?" Mr. Benton's eyes went wild with excitement. Lots of hands raised up in the air.

"Ah!" Waverly was still tired, despite the shower and change.

Vash couldn't stop thinking of Ryuto when he saw the devious Brit burn the paper like a flash. Vash's head hurt at the thought of Ryuto, who was all the way in Japan. <<"'Kingston!'>> Ryuto's voice echoed in his flashback. <<"'Have you lost your mind? Get out of my way!'">>

<<"'Maybe it's you that I want..."'>>

<<"'... Kingston... What have you been up to?'">>

<<"'Maybe I want to announce the day you die, Ryuto!'">>

<<"'Well, why do you want to kill me? What did I ever do to you?'">>

<<"'After all the years of your rocking in my chair, you deserve to die!'">> With that voice resonating in his head, he pictured bashing Ryuto with a meat tenderizer. He began to have a little chuckle, and then it exploded to jolly, maniac laughter.

Everyone looked at him as if he'd gone mentally insane. "Mr. Kingston, do you find any humor in this? If it does not have to do with the class, happily share it with us." Mr. Benton went through his unkempt bedhead.

"I find your presentation wonderful, but the fact that somebody said aliens lived there... I find that humorous!"

"OH... well that makes sense... anyway..." And Mr. Benton went on talking about Pluto's status. After what seemed like an eternity, the bell finally sounded. Waverly decided to walk with Vash.

Vash suddenly spotted her. "Stop sneaking on me like that."

"I was not... I wanted to talk to you..."

Vash turned his head at her. He adopted those scary eyes. "What do you want?"

Waverly took an involuntary step back. "...about that laugh... what were you really laughing at?"

He mumbled, "You don't need to know." and walked away.

"What was that?"

"There's nothing you need to know. I was just happy." With that he walked with a fast pace to his dorm.

"...What's up with him?" Waverly turned around and went to the lobby to get a Cherry Snapple.

By 2:00 p.m. there was a dismissal bell. Everyone scattered out of the classrooms. Waverly went back her dorm. She immediately went on to Toki-Doki. They reported that the site will be down permanently due to some stupid copyright, so she did her best to print the pages. After she did so, she stapled about 27 pages and left it on the table for Vash.

When Vash entered his room, he found a stapled packet that Waverly was nice enough to whip for him. He sat down to look at it. He smiled a bit when he realized that she whipped up some documents of Toride.

"Hello, Vash..." Ginger was standing by the doorway sipping some English tea.

"Ugh... at least knock first..." Vash growled under his breath.

"Is that Toride again? Why are you so obsessed with it?"

Vash threw the packet on the floor, and retorted, "Maybe it's because I like it."

"You know... I'm interested..." She sat down beside Vash's bed. "If you wish to explore this world, I shall go with you."

"Really? If you wish to go, we might plan our educational adventure in about two months or so."

Ginger looked at her phone. "It's Wednesday... and mostly cloudy... so you'll need to reserve a bed early..."

Vash immediately blushed, "Stop your random yapping!"

"Oh, it was only a suggestion..." With that, Ginger left Vash to himself. He really, really wished to go. He had enough college credits to graduate early. He didn't know that Waverly was 14, but hey! He probably knew it from their conversations.

Tired from studying and free time, he went into a very deep sleep in his school clothes.
==CHAPTER IV==

Paris, France

It was a cold, rainy day in Paris, France. The Corbeaus were getting started with their royal party. After everyone on the guest list arrived, they sat at the golden table. Lord Augustus Corbeau began his prayer. "Our Holy Father... Thank you for providing your treasures of gifts. Thank you for making this tired man to be present at this wonderful party. You have brought blessings to this family. If my son and daughter hadn't made it in the rain without illness, it'd crush my heart. Please provide a wonderful feast to this castle tonight."

After an echoing "Amen", everyone began to chow down on honeyed duck, peas, mashed potatoes, mussels and honey rolls. Lord Corbeau brought sparkling juice for his guests who couldn't tolerate alcohol. The rest were provided cherry wine in golden flutes.

Alexander and Alexandra were the two angels of the Corbeaus. They both had straight, golden blonde hair reaching to the lower back and blue eyes of the blue sapphire. Alexander was a tall, 5' 10". Alexandra was a nice 5' 8". They were both 19 years of age.

"Thank you, Father. You have made quite a dinner. I'm proud of you." Alexander smiled at his father.

"You have seemed to forget table manners, my boy."

Alexander looked down at his blouse to find it dribbled with potatoes. "My apologies, dear father." He got his napkin and immediately dabbed the potatoes off of his white shirt. Alas, it left a noticeable stain.

"Oh, dear brother... you're always like this when it comes to dinners, are you not?" Alexandra shook her head.

Alexander was too busy wolfing down the last of his duck. When he finally gulped it down, he nodded. "This is the best dinner I've ate!"

"I suppose it is..." Lord Corbeau complimented to his wife, Lady Helena Corbeau.

"Merci." Lady Corbeau nodded as she ate a part of her roll. As the dinner continued, it happened to be a beautiful time that lasted forever. Music from the great hall sounded rich and beautiful as always.

After dinner, the children were getting ready for bed. When Alexander looked for his Bible, he found a peculiar artifact just deep inside his vault (where he kept his jewelry and money). He sneezed at the dust that resided deep in his wardrobe.

"That sneeze. I worry that you've caught cold, brother."

Alexander continued to search between sniffles. "No, Lexi. I've an allergy to dust, remember?"

She laughed joyously, "Ah! But what makes you dig your face in your wardrobe? Your shoes?"

While his upper body was in his wardrobe, he was struggling to look for his black shoes. When he finally found them, he took attention of the artifact. "What is this?"

His sister asked to see the golden artifact. "Looks like a bunch of hieroglyphs---and Latin!"

"No, I believe that's Chinese. 'Qǔshǒu' means 'Toride'... a lost city... It appears to be derived from an ancient scribe."

"How do you know that!?" Alexandra's eyes were like bowling balls. She was quite impressed at how Alexander had the amazing ability to decode Chinese. The Chinese, "一個失去了城市黯然萬元武士拆卸，它仍可能在未來蓬勃發展。" is all she could see.

He smiled at her, "Perhaps of our previous excursions 'round the globe."

"Oh, I get it..." She was still angry that her father failed to take notice of his only daughter. She HATED how haughty he sounded when he talked of his knowledge. She could still hear Alexander decoding it in French. Finally, when he got finished with the first paragraph of the writing entry, he was tired enough to fall into a deep slumber.

BACK IN LONDON...

Ginger was at the library on a school computer, and she found a text on her iPhone from her friend, Alexander. She and Lexus knew each other from some boarding school down in Paris. He was ALWAYS that edgy, daring man with a thing for women. His text said, "Do you know anything about 'Toride'? I found this weird artifact yesterday night."

Ginger texted back "Yes. My friends are trying to get the pieces together. My other friend's so psyched about it. We plan to go there soon."

After five minutes, Alexander replied with a heart emoticon. "Cool~ I actually thought about doing so. Father's overreacting about our safety right now."

"Does he think you can handle it alone?" Ginger texted back to Lexus's message.

"Yes, he says as long as it's safe. I told him it's perfectly safe."

Ginger gritted her teeth at the text. "I'm not so sure. Don't get too excited."

"Well, if you wish to go, I'll gladly help you on your quest someday."

"As will I. I look forward to seeing you once again."

"A pleasure... You too!" And with that, the conversation between them ended just in cue for her leave. She didn't have class now that she was a senior, hanging out. When she walked from there to the washroom, she bumped into Waverly.

"Hello, Waverly. Nice to see you." Ginger tucked the stray fringe behind her ear.

"You, too. What are you doing this late?"

"Might I ask the same for you?"

"I don't know, just whipping up treats for Vash."

"Oh, notes for Toride? Well, I think I'll need to share something with you."

"Me? But why me?"

"It about this text I got. A guy from France found an artifact in his room yesterday."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, does asking about Toride ring a bell to what we've dealt with?"

"Yeah! I'm glad we're not alone!"

"As am I, Waverly. In fact, Vash wanted you and I to go with him. Since he wishes to do it so much, I planned that we head out on January 23."

"What's today?"

"January 18, so we got roughly a week to prepare before we set off."

"Sounds kind of rushed. Maybe February 4... or something like that..."

"How about January 27?"

"Sounds like a lot of time to prepare." Waverly smiled as she left.
The old adventurer had left the campus grounds the day that Vash and Waverly had their conversation about Toride and whether or not she would go with him. He was curious on whether they would be leaving soon. His first place to head on his clues, was to a villa in the outskirts of Paris, France. He stood outside the villa in the rain, and saw as a candle lit room housing two young adults very similar in appearance. He saw a tablet with familiar inscribing, and saw a few things he hadn't seen along with it.

"Aha! My next clue."

The adventurer left the villa, his next destination barely even known to him, but his travel fully comprehended.

BACK IN LONDON...

Vash was tired, looking through his notes. He was ready to go to sleep when the door to his room opened. He usually waited for Waverly to get back before he went to bed. He was surprised when she had someone along with her. His surprise vanished when he saw that it was Ginger.

"Why did you bring Ginger? Having a sleepover tonight?"

His voice was dramatic and monotone at the same time, the girls always wondered how he did that.

"Toride," Ginger said calmly. "We know you plan on going and want people along."

Waverly was on the same page as Ginger as she spoke up, "I want to go, and you're not stopping me. You asked me already and I'm telling you now I'm going with you."

Ginger chimed in, "I also have some special information that you might not yet have. You have to let me go too though or you won't get it. It's about Toride of course."

Vash went from tired enough to be considered dead, to awake and alert in seconds. "You two can come along. Of course you can. What's this new information on Toride?"

"Oh, just a little tablet a friend of mine found in the bottom of his closet. We have to include him and his sister too if you want to get anywhere with Toride."

"The more, the safer. Of course they could come along."

A knock at the door, and Vash had an unwelcome feeling rubbing on his conscience.

Ryuto tried the door and found himself in the room in a second. Vash's jaw dropped, and Ryuto was smiling like a maniac.

"You aren't leaving without me Vash! You need someone capable of handling adventure. You're too much of the book worm!"

Vash was disappointed yet happy at the same time. He also wanted to clobber Ryuto with a meat tenderizer like before...but he was past that knowing that a strong rival was offering help on the adventure.

"You can come along, but don't forget that I'm the one who beat you!"

Vash had the energy back and the attitude he needed for the adventure.

Waverly chimed in again, "Ginger and I have already planned out a day we can leave and start looking around to follow your clues. The 27th!"

Vash smiled and nodded his head. Suddenly, sleep was the last thing on his mind.
==CHAPTER V==

It was past ten o'clock, and it was pouring like crazy. There were no classes today due to the inclement weather and the winter break 2. Ryuto looked forward to being on the trip, but rather reluctant with Vash. You see, he and Vash were enemies. Vash just hated his rival's guts. He didn't like how his black hair was to his neck (yes, like a girl). Vash didn't like Ryuto's Goth and his skull earring. Sure, he might be distant, but he wasn't sure if he had a girlfriend. He was quite hyped to prepare for Ryuto's early grave. He loved it, his mind created a mini-clip of stomping a thousand ants representing Ryuto. He liked Goth too, but hell, it was an excuse of hating him!

A knock sounded on his door. "Come in," he mumbled as he read through his papers. It was Waverly. It was strange, for she was usually happy. Now, she looked extremely sad and her eyes seemed to be swollen from crying.

"What's up?" Vash peered at the sad Waverly, still crying.

"I'd rather not talk about it, but it goes like this: Boyfriend, Abuse, dog dies..." and she flopped herself on the bed and began to bawl.

"What Boyfriend? Did he abuse you or something? And your dog rests in peace."

"Vincent and I broke up and he said scathing words. I told him about 'Toride' and he said it was stupid. He didn't care for me after all..." She continued to cry as hard as she could. She was so saddened she could hardly talk.

"Well... get out if you want to cry. It's hard to watch you be like that."

"Sure..." With that, Waverly left the room and began crying in the washroom. Vash went back to work on his research before leaving campus. By one o'clock, Vash left London University to get something to eat at McDonald's.
He got him and Waverly two double cheeseburgers with French fries. He also bought two frozen mocha lattes from a local Starbucks. By the time he got back to the dorm, Waverly was conversing with a friend. She was feeling a bit better, her eyes still red. She sipped her drink and she felt much better. "Thank you..." she whispered hoarsely as she took the drink.

"We'll eat at the lounge. Go ahead and bring Ginger." But Waverly didn't wish to be with anyone right now. She didn't even feel like eating. All she could think about was Vincent. Vash only took the food and put it in his fridge. Now, Waverly found herself alone for about thirty minutes. She cried and cried until 12:30, and she went to wash her face.

After that, Waverly went in the dorm room. Vash was reading manga on his phone. When she looked at her pink bulletin by her computer, she saw several pictures of Vincent.
Angrily, Waverly took the pictures down, cut it up and threw it away. She stabbed the pink and green teddy bear Vincent got her for her 12th birthday. Vash got up from the bed and went to the lobby. as soon as the door shut behind him, she was crying as hard as she could. "I hate you, Vincent!" She choked between rocking sobs.

Suddenly, she could see a figure with a man's dress shirt atop a white jacket to go with her white bell-bottoms. "Ginger! What are you doing here?"

Ginger looked at the saddened girl. "Vash said you needed comfort."

"...Yeah, but I... I can't talk to you about it."

"Why not? Personal?" With that, Waverly slowly nodded her head.

"Say, why does Vash acts the way he does?"

Waverly wiped her tears. "I don't know. He's always been like that."
Ginger tapped her toes against the floor beneath her feet. "Look, I know this might go against whatever you two have going on, but I can tell that your pain is just as hard for him. He's not pissed off right now, studying his brains out because he'd die from it. I could tell if he was pissed off. He was frustrated, which is probably from something you told him about your problems. I wouldn't cut him short, but at least he considers you a friend."

Ginger walked out of the room before Waverly could further question her.

Tears still dripping down her face, she considered it. Vash had always been quiet, but never really angry with her. She wanted to know then how he really felt. She didn't want to rebound to him, and she felt sick at the idea, but she felt like she needed someone who cared to comfort her until she was ready.

Waverly wiped the tears from her face and pulled herself together as much as possible. She walked down the silent dormitory hall and then to the lobby. She saw Vash sitting there rubbing his temples in his frustration. She couldn't help but wonder if she had caused his frustration that time.

She walked past him and sat beside him on the other side of the couch.

"Something about Toride frustrating you now?"

He considered it a second, or at least he seemed like he did. "...Yeah."

"What is it? Maybe it'll get both of us off of my PMS."

"That time of month? Oh right...anyways, this thing with Toride. There are a few places that are very vague. There are only descriptions of the places that the clues are. I'm hoping that the lead in France can pinpoint the locations to at least a city, because the descriptions are mostly barren sandy wastelands or hills of lush green grass."

Waverly looked down at the page that was sitting on top of the pile. Something jumped out at her. She saw something about buildings in the writing, at least what she thought meant buildings. All of the writing on that page was in Old Latin.

"What does this word mean?" she said when she pointed out the word she thought meant building.

"That's in the reference to the barren wasteland...hold on."

Vash looked closer at the page, trying to decyfer it a different way by how Waverly could see him looking to another of his pages.

"The word means city, not buildings. It's a city in the middle of a continuous sandstorm, or a dust bellow. Often, people mistake it for a patch of sink sand, but it's really a path to an underground city. The city is referred to in many different ways, Necropolis the most common, but the placement throws it off."

"Can you tell where this one is?"

"Between Cairo and the Nile. There are maybe two in that region from what I last remember seeing."

"So, from looking at them, you should know which one is the path that leads to the city, right?"

"The best way to find out, is to go at night, when the one that doesn't lead to the city would stop turning, and the one that continues to turn leads to the city."

She seemed excited as much as he was. He couldn't wait to see where the path led to. Only a week, and they would be gathering the first clue and searching for the second.

"It's been nice talking to you tonight Vash. Now let's get to bed sleepyhead! You look more tired than an old man off caffeine!"

With Waverly in higher spirits, and Vash happy, Vash watched her with his interested eyes as she danced down the hall to their dorm room. He followed, knowing that she would definitely follow him to Toride and back.